Dan pulls in ex-Gateway man to beef up sales team

John Shepheard has resurfaced at UK vendor Dan Technology to head up its sales team. Shepheard, who left rival vendor Gateway in November last year, joined Dan as sales director on 1 February. London-based Dan said Shepheard's work in the newly created position would concentrate on the company's health, education and local authority sectors. He will also help the PC assembler move into new markets in the UK and abroad. Shepheard said: "I really couldn't have picked a better time to join Dan. The challenge facing Dan today is to step up a gear, dramatically increasing sales without losing the small company ethos." He resigned as director of sales for Gateway EMEA last year after four years at the vendor. At the time, Gateway said Shepheard wanted to leave the company's HQ in Ireland to return to his family in England. Shepheard has 14 years in the industry. He was a sales executive at computer magazine publisher VNU Business Publications, and worked at fellow publishers EMAP and Ziff-Davies before joining Gateway. Dan Technology, with a 1997/8 turnover of £40 million, also has offices in Scotland and Leeds. Its networking subsidiary, Dan Network Solutions, is based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. ®